The Beer Nut: New Belgium debuts in Massachusetts

One of the largest craft breweries in the United States is making its Massachusetts debut this week.

New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Asheville, North Carolina, is now one step closer to being a national beer brand. The only states where you can't buy the company's beers are Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

“Two years ago, we were totally at capacity, but we built the second brewery in Asheville, which allowed us to add 500,000 barrels (of brewing capacity),” said New Belgium spokesman. Bryan Simpson. “We’re the fourth-largest craft brewery in the country. We’re almost national. We always open states contiguously. We have a plan to open the rest of the states in the second quarter of the year.”

New Belgium was founded by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch in 1991 after they took a bike ride through Belgium and tasted numerous Belgian ales.

That inspired them to open their own brewery with two Belgian-inspired ales, Fat Tire and Abbey Ale, which are both still available today. Now, New Belgium has more than 800 employees and one of the first employee-owned breweries in the U.S.

Fat Tire will be among the beers that will be available both in draft and in bottles in Massachusetts.

“That’s still paying for a lot of bills for us,” said Simpson. “It’s a big hitter. It’s still our top seller. It brings a lot of new beer drinkers into the craft beer fold.”

Along with Fat Tire, other beers will include Voodoo Ranger IPA, Citradelic IPA, seasonal beers, as well as bombers of sour beers such as La Folie and other wood-aged beers.

“La Folie is kind of rare,” said Simpson. “We have one of the largest wood beer cellars in the country, if not the largest.”

Citradelic IPA is an IPA brewed with tangerines. Simpson said it was their best new beer launch in 2016. Voodoo Ranger IPA is a twist on its Ranger IPA. He described it as “juicy,” which is pretty much the most popular descriptor for IPAs now.

The current seasonal available is Whizbang, a hoppy blonde ale.

Although not currently available, Simpson said canned versions of New Belgium’s 12-ounce offerings will be available in Massachusetts.

Despite the number of new breweries opening in Massachusetts, New Belgium believes the have something new for beer drinkers here, Simpson said.

“There’s a lot of support of local beers, as there should be,” said Simpson. “But I also think most craft beer drinkers have their own portfolio of beers they drink. They have four or five local go-to beers, and they have a few nationals they go to. We want to be at the top of that line of beers they go to.

“We offer a wide variety of beers, from Belgian to hoppy to sour,” he said. “We have everything from approachable to complex.”

Norman Miller is a Daily News staff writer. Email him at nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut. Follow him on Twitter @RealBeerNut and on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerBeerNut.